Restless Peace Part II
by Gaarafan12
Summary: This story begins several months after the events of Part 1. Hannah is growing stronger with the help of her friends from the Sand village, but so is the evil that haunts her. And danger may be closer to home than she ever expected...
1. Chapter 1

It's a quiet night; the stars that fill the open sky cast small shadows across the desert sand. As I lay back on my pack gazing up at the moon, I think again how lucky I am. My name is Hannah, shinobi of the Sand, and the Leaf. Yes I know it's unusual, it's so unusual in fact that I am the only ninja like this. Like I said, I'm lucky; I was all alone at my home in the Leaf village, I was an orphan and my team had been lost in the war. I tried to stay strong but was almost lost. That's when I met the Sand ninja and all hell had broken lose.

But that was all behind me, now I'm here in the Land of Winds and working on a new team. Matsuri, my partner was the only person I had met on my team. She was Gaara's student before he became Kazakage and we had met while I trained under Temari. She fights using different weapons, and is also a learning medical ninja. Next we have Souka, he's Matsuri's age and she gets impatient with him. Don't get me wrong he has it coming to him. He's a lot like Kankuro always complaining. He fights using a couple of earth style jutsu he picked up, but his best quality is his tracking. He can track a cold trail anywhere. The third member of our team is our captain Deryk. He was in my sensei's class at the academy, and is a puppet master like Kankuro, but of course he hasn't quite reached his level yet. But Deryk is also a skill tactician making him a wise captain. He has been a good leader since I've worked with him.

It has been four months since I moved to the Sand village. It wasn't an easy transition for sure, but it has been worth it. I was injured right before the move, Gaara and Temari wouldn't even let me think about joining a team before a doctor cleared me for combat. Luckily the doctor here didn't even come close to comprehending my condition the way Lady Tsunade had, otherwise I'd probably still be waiting it out. Yes, I don't think I've fully recovered yet, but it's not a big deal. The worst is way past and the only problems I still have a bit of soreness.

The only other problem with my transition was the fear of the unknown, mine and the Sand's. The village was scared by my presence, but not because of me. I had spent a couple of months here training under Temari before and everyone welcomed me. And now, I didn't feel unwelcomed, but I could sense the unease that my presence brought. That was passing though; the fear was turning into pride, for being the first ninja village to have a joint shinobi living in it. My fear was still lingering persistently. Before I committed to the journey, Lady Tsunade sat me down and told me exactly what the consequences might be, and the responsibilities I would carry. It was a daunting decision, but in the end, the prospect of feeling that sense of loneliness forever was much more frightening.

All has been quiet recently; just as quiet as this starry night. I had expected to be hunted, hated by all those that surely wanted me dead. But not even the clone master that had brought us to this point has made a move. Although, it might have to do with the fact that Gaara keeps assigning our team genine level missions close to home. The team is becoming restless, after feeling the pressures of war, being handed such simple tasks is excruciating. Souka complains every time we get a new mission about how boring it is. Matsuri and Deryk however understand why we keep getting these low rank missions. It's because of me. Matsuri is my friend, so she would never complain in front of me, but I can tell she yearns for more exciting work. It was nice at first, not having to worry so much about getting ambushed by packs of rouge ninja, but now that I can see my team suffering I also wish we had better work.

Right now for instance, we are on our way home from a mission to repair a nearby civilian village's wall. No great battle or ninja confrontation had caused its walls to crumble, just old age. Souka almost died when we got this mission, of course he doesn't have the guts to speak out in front of Gaara as my friend Naruto would, but he voices it plenty to us.

The sky is beginning to turn lighter, predicting the soon rising of the sun, I rise from my spot and move to assemble my belongings. Deryk wakes next, gathering his few items and waking the other two. Souka takes his alarm very well this morning.

"What the hell do you want? I'll catch up with you." He mumbles into his pack. Matsuri rolls over and sits up. Her long brown hair is creased from her sleep and her headband she wears around her neck is crooked. Matsuri takes mornings just about as well as Souka does; the difference is Matsuri opts not to talk.

"Souka get up, you can't be tired we had a full night's rest."Deryk, on the other hand is alert it seems at all times. Nothing gets past him. If I didn't know better there's no way I would say he had been sleeping. His pack was packed and ready. His messy black hair had already been pulled to the side to show off his Sand headband coving his forehead. He had no bags under his dark blue eyes and nothing was out of place. He slips his foot into one of the arm straps of Souka's backpack turned pillow, and pulls it out from his head. His face land in the sand; and in rebellion doesn't even move.

"I know the way home." He grumbles into the sand, unfortunately for him he must have gotten some sand in his mouth when he did. He jerks up and starts spitting in Matsuri's direction. Mistake, Matsuri's eyes flare and she throws her pack at his head. He's way to drowsy to dodge it so early. "What was that for?" Matsuri responds with only a glare as she runs her fingers through her hair trying to get ready to go. Souka looks up to where I'm perched on a rock a couple of feet above him. "I don't understand you two, getting up so early and making us get back to the village. You don't get it do you, the time in between us finishing the mission and when we get home is like vacation… no rules, no deadlines. And yet here we are getting up before the sun, to get back and get another stupid job."

Souka finishes his rant by putting on his glasses, he doesn't wear them all the time, just in the mornings or when he's thinking really hard, trying to track.

"That's enough Souka," Deryk says moving away from the group. "It's time to get back, we want to arrive before the day in the village begins so we can get our next assignment." Deryk is about ten feet away from the group now, treading the familiar path home. Matsuri and I move to walk behind him and we hear Souka hurrying to gather his scattered belongings and finally he matches our strides. He is a little shorter than Matsuri and I but he won't admit it, he works hard to keep up with us and always says we are delusional when Matsuri says he's short.

We make our way across the desert like this talking about the finished mission while Deryk moves ahead of us leading the way. The cool night air is quickly heating up to the temperatures I have learned as normal. As the sun rises behind us we make our home, to the Sand village.

The village is quiet this morning, no yet up stirring, of course this isn't unusual. I rise before the rest of the village every day, not needing much sleep gives me time to be the Kazakage. If I had needed sleep in the way others did, I don't know how it would be possible. As usual, after preparing myself for the day, I allow the wall of my room to crumble and step out onto the waiting sand. I make my way to the roof of the large building that was my home. There was no other way up here, but by my sand. I look around the village checking its status. Like I said, quiet.

By now the ninja of the village were waking and lights were turning on in the houses. My thoughts summon the sand to me and form exactly what I need. I step onto the hovering platform and have it carry me high above the city. I make my way to the outer wall where I drop and step onto the highest portion of the wall. The ninja keeping watch there great me and give me a quick report. No movement in or out of the village last night. I walk around the perimeter this morning instead of returning my office.

I sent Hannah's team on a simple mission very close to the village. I had expected them in last night. I know the team and know I have nothing to fear. Temari's classmate is very capable and knows the details of our previous encounters. He knows Hannah is a likely target. But still I feel uneasy when they are away on assignments. I put them off as long as I can, waiting for nearby missions. I end up on the east wall and look out across the horizon to see the rising sun. Within the suns blinding light, are four figures running swiftly towards our village. The guards around me see them too and begin to bark orders around, trying to distinguish who it was.

"It's just team 10, they were due back anytime." One of the guards decides and reports. As soon as the four figures come into view I see he is right. Hannah and her team are back. I turn and drop down to the village floor below and walk through the streets toward my home. There would be plenty of paperwork to do, and I could focus now.

"It's nice to be back." I say to Matsuri after we pass the village walls.

"Yeah, I guess so. When do you think we'll get our next mission? I kinda hope the next one is a bit more exciting." She asks me, but quickly changes the subject. "Are you going to go train with Temari today?"

This gets my mind off her comment, I always look forward to my training with Temari. "Hopefully! I'm gonna go drop off my pack then go see if she is busy. You wanna join us?" I ask hopefully, maybe that would make up for the sorry missions we've been getting because of me. There's never a dull moment training with Temari…

"No, I'm gonna go home, I've always got 'chores' to do. I just don't understand my parents, I go off on missions just to come home and work there too!" Matsuri sighs dramatically. I smile and laugh at her comment, but inside I think about how lucky she is to have parents to annoy her. One can't really understand the pain of loneliness unless they have felt it.

"Well ok, you have fun with that!" I laugh.

"You act like you're going off to have some kinda great fun; I know how hard Temari pushes you. Remember the last time I went and trained with you?" She questions me. Of course I do, Temari and I had been training for a while when Matsuri finally came over and joined us. Temari had made us do this sort of ridiculous obstacle course and we thought we might have died. "Yeah, no thank you. I'll stick with Deryk." With this we part ways, I wave to her as she moves to go home and I make my way to the ninja dorms. I have a simple room, much like my one in the Leaf village. I don't spend much time here, nor do I today. I drop off my pack and change clothes.

I move out of the dorms and walk down the busy roads of the Sand village. Some people I have come to know call out in greeting to me. Our missions are spread out and short so I have quite a bit of time to spend in the village. I spend that time training with Temari as much as I can, and then if she is busy training alone. But a person can only train for so long. After that I spend a lot of time playing with the kids in the village, the ones who lost their parents in the war. I know exactly how it feels, and if I can spare even one child from feeling alone, it will be worth it.

Speaking of, just then a small girl named Saidy runs up to me. "Hannah! You're back! What are you doing? Are you going to go train with Lady Temari?" Saidy thinks Temari is the coolest person on earth, and I don't really blame her.

"Yes hopefully," I say laughing at her enthusiasm. "If she's busy though I'm gonna need your help to train ok?" I say in a serious tone as I lean down on one knee to look her in the eyes.

"Really?" I nod my head, "Cool! What will we do?" She yells in excitement.

"I don't know yet, but I'll come by later and tell you what I've figured out, Okay?" She replies by yelling back ok and then turning to run back to her friends. I laugh at Saidy as she reconvenes our conversation to her friends. I shift my weight to get back to my feet when a familiar sharp pain races up my muscles and makes me stumble. I look around to make sure no one is watching before I reach down to access my leg. It is red, which is normal, but know I can see the dark spots that indicate a bruise forming. Great… that must mean I tore another fiber. It seems like every time I think I've fully recovered another thing breaks or tears. I could work through the pain though. I'd been through worse, much worse. So I stand and move again toward the Kage mansion, Temari would be there along with Kankuro and Gaara. Last time I was home Kankuro hadn't done anything for days. I decide I should stop by and make sure he was breathing.

I enter the large building without any protests from the guards. They knew me and smiled as I walked up the steps into the round entrance hall. There were people moving about working various duties. No doubt Gaara was already on the third floor assigning missions, and Temari would be either in the advisors room, in which case I would leave her be. Or she could be in her or Kankuro's room. She tried to get him to do more, but with the war over not much was going on.

I reach Kankuro's room first and knock. When I don't hear a response I move to leave. But then I hear the grumbles of someone crawling out of bed and making their way to the door. Kankuro opens the door yelling, "Who in the world woke me up!" He looks down at me and I smile up at him. Kankuro is much taller than me and glares down to meet my expression. "What are you doing here Hannah, I'm so tired." He yawns to add to his statement.

"Well I just got home and thought I'd treat you to some breakfast if you'd go train with me!" I smile as his face brightens at the mention of food, then drops again when I get to the part about training. "Come on, you don't have to do much, we'll go get Temari and you just throw some kuni at me every once in a while."

"Why don't you ever bother Gaara with this stuff?" Kankuro said grumbling as he moves back into the dark room leaving the door open. I follow and sit on his work desk and listen to him complain.

"If you haven't noticed Gaara is a little busy being Kazakage! He doesn't have time to train with me, but you on the other hand have tons of time!" I laugh as he hollers back from the other room.

"I probably would have taken the job if I'd know it meant always being too busy to be bothered by anyone."

"You wouldn't have lasted one day as Kazakage and we all know it. I'm gonna go find Temari and I'll meet you down stairs for breakfast!" He yells back a 'yeah yeah' and I leave the room, closing the door behind me and hoping he doesn't go back to sleep. I move down the hallway further to Temari's room. I knock and I hear her yell back just a minute. And just a minute later she opens the door looking annoyed. Her expression changes when she sees me.

"Hannah! Sorry, Kankuro hid one of my shoes and I can't find it anywhere." I move into her familiar room and help her look for the lost sandal.

"Speaking of, I just invited him to go to breakfast with us and train, that is if you have time." I say hopefully. "Found it!" I found the shoe behind a chair in the corner. As I hand it to Temari she groans in anticipation. Not of training with me, but by the presence of her brother.

"Really, he's coming?" She complained.

"When was the last time he left the mansion?" I counter.

"Good point, alright lets go."

We only have to wait about five minutes from when we drop down through the center to the first floor to when Kankuro joins us. Temari lets him know what she thought about him hiding the shoe and I just laugh. We leave the mansion to go to head over to one of their favorite shops for breakfast. I had told Kankuro I would treat him, but him being the Kazakage's brother, he and Temari didn't really ever have to pay. Obviously since I was with them the shop owners always offered to give me mine on the house, but I always pay. I don't want the villagers thinking I'm greedy, I'm an outsider to some of them still and don't want to make anyone mad.

We finish quickly and head over to the training courtyard behind the mansion. Kankuro walks under the shadow of the building and lays on one of the large stones that are scattered throughout the courtyard.

"Come on Kankuro! Don't just go to sleep on me! We just got here!" I yell in protest.

"Get up you lazy pig, Hannah let's warm up." I nod my head in attention, moving into a training mindset from here on out no more jokes, no more laughs. Kankuro of course was yelling at his sister about her comment but finally he joins us. He grabs various small objects laying around and moves them through the air with his chakra strings I aim for them with one fan first hitting each target. Next he moves two separate objects and I move to two fans. Temari stands by and watches my form. Next we practice a technique I invented after watching Temari, I combine my fans to create a larger fan and attack some long rang dummies. After about an hour of warming up, we really start to train.

7


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The two advisors finally rise from their seats opposite mine and leave the room. I close my eyes and fold my hands in front of me. This was the first time I'd been alone all day. I look at the sun outside my window, it's about eleven now. With nothing else to focus on, I pick up the surges in my siblings chakra outside the building. I focus harder and also sense Hannah's chakra; they must be training in the courtyard. I look up at the door and after several moments without a visitor, I deem it safe to leave.

Moving to the balcony overlooking the village and the training grounds I see them. There they are, all three of them. It looks like Temari and Kankuro are teamed up against Hannah who is purely on the defensive right now. She is moving well, dodging both of them perfectly and trying to work in attacks at the same time. But then Kankuro surprises her by having his puppet crow send a net out towards her. She doesn't have time to dodge it so she turns her back on Temari and uses her fans to cut the net and avoid capture. Of course this is all Temari needs to take her out, she raises her enormous fan, all three moons showing, and sends a blast of wind that sends Hannah crashing into a wall.

One who didn't know Temari would have expected her to run up and apologize to her student. No, Temari does the opposite, she yells "Too slow Hannah! Get up!" moments before sending an equally powerful wind at her. Hannah recovers swiftly from the crushing blow and dodges the second attack, retreating behind a large stone in the yard. I can feel the pulses in her chakra that mean she has almost reached her limit. And yet, she springs from behind the rock and runs horizontally along the wall. Temari takes the bait and sends another at her. Hannah jumps off the wall before the attack reaches her and dives right at my sister who is still on the back swing of her attack. Hannah would have gotten her if crow hadn't stepped in between them at the last second.

I can see the disappointment and irritation on Hannah's face from here. The expression makes me smile, my sand wraps around me spinning in a small vortex. The expressions I see next are those of surprise for my siblings, but Hannah smiles and gets that determined look as I appear in the small sand storm next to her she know the odds are now even, it's two on two. Hannah instinctively moves to pursue Kankuro after I separate our opponents. I take on Temari redirecting her winds as she moves into the offensive. We spar like this for a couple of minutes until I hear Kankuro yell in frustration, perhaps he has taught Hannah too well. She is controlling the pace of the fight, making him move wherever she needed him with her wind. Finally Kankuro has enough and summon his other two puppets. Hannah jumps back and is even with my stride.

"Hannah," I say simply and nod at her. She knows what the gesture means. I had spoken with her once about every jutsu having a weakness, and I had used Kankuro as an example. I had told her something that was never allowed to be said to a ninja other than in the Sand. And now that she was a Sand ninja I passed it on to her. The puppet jutsu requires strings of chakra that cannot be severed with any blade. But Hannah uses her fans as blades as well. And normally not even this would be able to cut the chakra, but Kankuro and Temari had constructed Hannah's fans specifically for her. They had made them to withstand massive amounts of her chakra flowing through them allowing her to make an almost purely chakra blade. It was my theory that if Hannah could clash her chakra quickly enough along the edge of her fans it would be enough to break the strings.

Hannah jumps behind me and I bring up a dome around her to allow her time to charge up her chakra. Kankuro is confused and charges at my sand, I have my hands full with Temari, and just allow him to try and break through. I know he will have no success. Moments later I feel Hannah's chakra stop rising and know she is ready. When Kankuro sends crow at the sand, I open up the back of my dome and Hannah jumps on top of it. She uses the sand to jump over the puppet; I turn in anticipation to see what will happen next. Temari notices my sudden indiffence in our fight and walks up next to me to watch. Hannah spins in the air sends a couple of waves of wind at Kankuro, this forces him to dodge and move crow. This gives Hannah the opportunity to see his chakra strings; she makes it to the ground and almost appears out of nowhere behind crow. She raises one of her fans that Temari and I can tell has her chakra built up in it and swings, not at the crow, but directly behind its back.

Much to Kankuro's surprise, the crow falls to the ground with just its arms and legs hovering slightly above the ground. "Gaara did you?" Temari starts amazed by what she sees. Hannah doesn't stop there she moves as quickly as she can and moves to the remaining two puppets. Using the moments of confusion and shock before Kankuro comes to his senses she severs the other two main puppet strings. Kankuro swears and tries to reconnect his strings but doesn't have a chance to, Hannah has run behind him and is holding a kuni at his neck.

"What the, how, when did you learn to do that?" Kankuro growls at Hannah. She is out of breath and has dispelled the chakra built up in her fan. She steps away from my brother and laughs.

"Gaara taught me the secret to your demise!" She laughed again at Kankuro's rude counter as she moves over to where Temari and I stand. "How was that?" She asks Temari.

"Very good, you're learning quickly." My sister answers.

"Well, that last technique is pretty much worthless without Gaara. It still takes me too long to build up enough chakra to make it effective. I'm defenseless while I focus on the chakra."

"The technique itself is only useful on puppet users, which only come from our village. It is the strategy you need to remember. Every ninja has a weakness, that's what you need to learn from this." I say simply. Hannah nods with enthusiasm.

"So do you think maybe my team can go on some more difficult missions? No rouge ninja we might run into is going to be half as strong as Kankuro or you Temari. And I won't be alone!"

I mentally sigh, I knew it would happen sooner or later, I look to my sister. Temari has a very serious look on her face, conflicted. "Hannah, you have gotten stronger, but please understand it is risky to send you far from the village. You remember what happened _before_ you took on both villages. It could be worse now, and there's no reason for you to go on difficult missions, since the war there aren't many missions anyway."

"I understand, but my team is getting restless, I can't stand to see them unhappy because of me. And besides, what is the point of me being a joint shinobi if no one sees me? I doubt anyone outside the land of winds even knows about me. If I am to be helpful I'll have to take risks." She moves her pleading gaze in my direction. "Please let me take the risk, I won't be alone." She finishes with a smile.

"Alright, I'll see what I can find for you." I say, giving into her request. Why is it so hard for me? To let her go, she is strong; I know this, I've seen it. Even more so recently, Hannah works hard every day to get stronger. Her team is capable and will be able to handle almost any assignment I could give them. So why do I hold her back?

"Thank you!" Hannah says with a growing smile. "Temari is there anything else for me to do today?" I almost smile, here Hannah is ready to drop, but if Temari said the word, she would go for hours more.

"No, you may go Hannah."

"Hey! No way, get back here! I want a rematch, and Gaara's gonna stay out of it this time!" My brother yells at Hannah while sending a glare in my direction.

Hannah returns his frustrated yell with a laugh. "Sorry Kankuro I already have training plans with someone else, maybe next time." She walks toward the courtyard wall and jumps over it with Kankuro following in tow.

"With who?" Kankuro yells as he reaches the top of the wall.

I faintly hear Hannah call out the name Saidy as Kankuro turns with a look of utter confusion at us and then follows.

Temari laughs, "Who's Saidy?" I ask.

"An orphan girl at the academy, it's my understanding she adores Hannah." I respond with a nod, and walk slowly back toward the mansion.

"Gaara," Temari starts. I turn to face her, she has stopped walking. "You're worried about Hannah."

It wasn't a question, my sister knows me very well. She can tell my mind is filled with thoughts about this mission I have promised Hannah. "Yes," I reply honestly, Temari is Hannah's sensei after all. "I don't understand why things have been so quiet, why haven't our enemies come after her yet? They have already proven to be quite capable at infiltration and have nothing to lose by sending in clones after her. But still nothing. They must be waiting for something, and if it's the opportunity I fear I may have just given it to them. But Hannah is right; I cannot shelter her and her team forever. Nevertheless I'm hesitant." I finish and Temari ponders everything I have said.

"Then send me with them," She says. "She will be safe, you will have that assurance, and they can have a better mission." Temari is right; Hannah loves Temari and won't mind her presence. I suspect Hannah is still a bit worried herself, after what happened last time she met our foes.

"Alright, I will find a border mission for you." We both walk back into the mansion now, my mind not completely at ease.


	3. Chapter 3

The journey to the familiar cave was uneventful; leaving the village alone with no one suspecting my true intentions was as easy as always. I cross the large gap preventing any wandering outlaws from gaining entrance and proceed deeper into the darkness. To an unknowing eye, the back of the passage was a mere dead end, no more than a natural crevice in the dry desert earth. But with the right jutsu, known only to me, the cool stone breaks away and reveals the stairs to our base. At first I had protested that we were too close to the village, but after realizing the concealing jutsu Zutara's brother was capable of creating, my worries turned to fear of what they were capable of. Zutara is a true master of his craft, going beyond what anyone would have thought possible with clones. Not only were his clones unique and powerful, they allowed him to go beyond the limits of normal jutsus.

The two usual clones greet me with nothing more than a stiff nod as I reach the end of the stairs. The few and dim lights provide little assistance navigating the long tunnels that lead to the various rooms. But I have no need for them today; I have but one purpose with Zutara himself.

I make my way to the correct door, knock and proceed into the only well lit room. This is where Zutara's brother works every day, experimenting with and creating jutsus. Zutara is as usual overseeing his work at a large desk in the corner.

"Oh how very interesting!" Zutara's brother notices me first, my knocking must not have been heard over the various machines in the room. "I guess this means something has happened! Otherwise you would not have been foolish enough to come here!" His expression turns to a grin as he moves away from me and heads back to his work.

"Yes Sir something new has happened." I had no other way to address him since I have never been told his name, I have only ever heard Zutara call him brother. But I was speaking just as much to Zutara himself as well, who has now risen from his desk and is walking toward me.

Zutara grew more frustrated every day. He had been convinced by his brother that waiting was the best option; but his lust for murderous revenge left him little room for patience. His eyes grow wide with hungry anticipation as he approaches me.

"At last, what news do you bring Deryk?"

Today has been quite exciting; as I gaze up at the starry sky once again I can't help but go over everything again in my mind. Gaara had promised me a better mission soon and he had finally gotten one.

Souka, Matsuri and I were gathering to head to our regular training ground when we were summoned for a mission briefing.

"Well, I wonder whose roof we're going to repair this week? OR NO!" Souka turned around so abruptly to face Matsuri and I we stopped. "MAYBE we get to escort some kid back to its mom!" His fake excited and serious face fell away to his irritated expression and he kept walking. "I mean honestly we're better utilized by just staying in the village and training. Send some genine to do this crap…"

"Well Souka maybe you should just tell the Kazekage you feel that way." Matsuri said innocently. I laughed as Souka looked over his shoulder and glared at us.

We reached the Kazekage's mansion and made our way up to the briefing room. Deryk was waiting for us outside the door. His usual kind smile turns to mock concern when he sees Souka's expression. "Souka, is everything alright?" He laughs along with Matsuri and I as Souka groans. But then as we near the door his demeanor changes as usual. He straightens up and his irritated expression is replaced with one of concentration.

We enter the room and see things are set up slightly differently than they normally are. The long slender table that normally houses at least six people is occupied by only Gaara and his siblings. There is no large stack of papers full of information on small missions that need completed but instead one folder in front of both Gaara and another exactly like it in front of Temari.

"Team 10." Gaara said as Deryk closed the door behind us, "For the past week several of our small villages along our border with the land of fire have been attacked by a small group of rouge ninja. This group is lead by a deserter from our village. He knows the forces we have stationed at these villages are not allowed to cross our border and is using that to his advantage. The past three attacks have been on different villages at night when he passes to and from both nations.

I have sent word to the Hokage informing her of our situation and to see if the villages on their side of the border have been affected. I am sending your team on this mission because of your excellent tracking abilities and Hannah's connection with the land of fire."

Souka was trying desperately not to smile, not only were we getting a mission he had hoped for, but Gaara had mentioned him specifically for his abilities. I smiled for him, he may complain a lot, but he was extremely good at what he does.

"Sir how many are in his group?" Deryk asked.

Kankuro spoke this time. "We've been told anywhere from five to ten, the first spot they attacked here," He pointed at a map in front of him as he spoke, "we got reports of five men, but the second report came from this village and they reported 10." The second village he pointed to was far from the first, with two different villages in between. Deryk must have noticed this too.

"They are not attacking the villages in linear order; do we have any indication of where they will attack next?"

Gaara spoke again, "No, we are hoping the Hokage's intel will reveal a pattern that we can follow. You will have to wait until we get this information to leave." Deryk replied with a 'yes sir' before Gaara continued. "Hannah's situation should allow her and her team unrestricted travel across the border, but because this is fairly new, we can't be sure if all the leaf ninja guarding their border have been told of her. Because of this, and our information that implies their group is growing, I'm sending Temari with you."

I was completely surprised, but I smiled as I looked down the row at my team. Deryk's expression was the only one that remained unchanged. Matsuri looked slightly ill, but Souka's mouth had visibly dropped. He might never admit it, but as amusing as it was, Temari scared him.

Deryk had asked several more questions and one of them had answered before Temari handed Deryk the folder she had in front of her, and we departed from the room. Matsuri and I eagerly watched Souka all the way out of the mansion waiting patiently to hear his reaction. As soon as we made it outside he stopped and dramatically dropped to his knees.

"We were so close!" He yelled to no one in particular. "We had an awesome mission finally, but now _she's_ coming?"

"Why are you scared of Temari?" I asked in between my laughs. Souka was younger than me, but older than Matsuri, he was never taught by Temari."

"I am _not_ scared of her! She's just crazy that's all!"

"Give it a rest Souka, you could learn a lot from Lady Temari." Deryk turned his attention away from Souka and talked to Matsuri and I, "Alright well I'm going to take this information and figure out a strategy for our mission. You guys go train together for however long you feel you need to and I'll see you tomorrow morning."

The three of us had followed Deryk's instructions and trained for the rest of the morning. After that, I had trained alone for most of the morning thinking about our mission. Those thoughts and worries come back to me now as I sit on the roof of my home looking up at the stars. It is so easy to lose yourself in the stars here…

My thoughts are interrupted by the faint sound I've come to recognize as Gaara's sand moving in the distance. I see him high above the village rooftops flying slowly away from his home and towards the village wall. I smile when I see him, I've only known Gaara for a short time, but he's been an amazing friend. But a strangle feeling comes over me when I think of him as a friend. Gaara had saved my life, and I have relied on him for strength more than once before. I stop these thoughts before they can form, Gaara was the Kazekage of the village hidden in the sand, I'm a ninja of that village, nothing more. I cannot allow my mind to become greedy and hope for anything more. Not long ago I was completely alone, I wouldn't risk my friendship with him over anything, no matter what my feelings are..

After I finish my explanation of the mission I would lead Hannah on Zatura laughs in excitement. "Finally!" he screams, "That stupid brat will be completely vulnerable to me!"

"Sir, if I may," I begin as Zatura returns his gaze to me.

"What?" He replies, annoyed with my interjection.

"You want the girl dead, but don't you want more than that?"

"What do you mean?"

"A man with your kind of power should not take his victims when they are isolated in a forest, that shows no one your power." He doesn't speak so I continue. "Every action you take should be a statement of your power. Let the girl live now, only remind her that you could kill her at any time. That will not only send her a message but Gaara as well."

Zatura thinks over my words as his brother speaks. "He's right you know, where's the fun in killing one insignificant child? No challenge at all."

"Shut up! I know that!" Zatura yells at his brother. Then he turns back to me. "So what would you suggest?"


End file.
